It’s a night that will be etched in Dickson County history forever. The night where Dickson County and Creek Wood finally locked horns on the gridiron. Seven years in the making after Creek Wood High School opened it’s doors.

To this day, many remember it as one of the most saught-after events in the entire county.

“I’m driving down, and as I’m getting not even remotely close to the school, there’s cars parked on the side of the road. There’s people tailgating, and it gave me a college game atmosphere. It was packed. We haven’t had a game like that first one,” said Dickson County athletic director Jay Powlas.

Former Creek Wood coach Chuck Daniel, who’s now an assistant at Dickson County, recalls that game where the entire bleachers were packed out at Red Hawk Stadium and fans had to congregate on the track that circled the field in order to watch.

“They were lined up three or four rows deep on the track,” said Daniel.

“It was a madhouse. It’s what you dream of playing in front of as a player and a coach. The whole community basically shut down.”

Creek Wood began playing football in 2003, but the opportunity to play the cross-county wasn’t presented as an idea immediately.

Daniel, however, after seeing the rivalries that the local middle schools had going, was ready to take on the Cougars immediately.

“For me, it was right off the bat,” said Daniel.

“But that wasn’t going to happen. Truth be told, the first four or five years, we had no business playing Dickson. We weren’t ready. Since then, Creek Wood has done a good job of building their own legacy.”

On the opposite side, the thought of playing Creek Wood wasn’t a priority to those on The Hill. After one regional coaches meeting, all of that changed.

“There was never any talk about playing each other,” said Powlas.

“Coach (Joey) Holley and coach (Troy) Williams were assistant coaches at the time. I remember coach Holley calling me and saying, ‘I think we’re going to schedule Creek Wood.’ That was big news for us, and it worked out.”

Dickson County won 34-19 that night in 2009, but the official Week Zero rivalry was officially born. Many schools in Tennessee make it a point to play their rival in the first game of the year before any regional play happens, so it only made sense for both teams moving forward to continue the rivalry.

“It’s a great week to kick off the season,” said Daniel.

“As a coach, I always tried to approach it as not the most important game, but you can’t convince these kids that. It’s their biggest game of the year.”

The community of Dickson County has embraced Week Zero, partaking in various activities throughout Dickson, Charlotte, White Bluff, and Burns leading up to the game.

“The community has enjoyed the game,” said Powlas.

“It’s funny when I see friends I graduated or went to high school with, and they have on all their Creek Wood stuff because their kids go to Creek Wood. It’s amazing to me, and cool how they’ve embraced Creek Wood and are behind it, even though that (Dickson County) is their alma mater.”

Of course, nothing is bigger that night than the game itself, where loyal legions of Cougars and Red Hawks past, present, and future gather together to cheer on their team.

“It’s a big night for everybody in Dickson County,” said Daniel.

“It’s two different programs, but each community takes pride in it’s own school.”

Reach Andy Simmons by email jasimmons@gannett.com or on Twitter @AndyDHTN